EX3550's in Mustang Mach 460

Systems

I'm upgrading my Mustang Convertible which came with the Ford Mach460 stereo. I'm adding a new head unit (4x25 rms) with an OEM Amplifier Integration adapter and two pairs of EX3550s.

For those of you not familiar with the Mach460 here are the details...

Front Speakers: 2 1/2'' tweater and 6x8'' woofer in the door.
Rear Speakers: 2 1/2'' tweater and 5 1/4'' woofer in the rear seat side panels.

Front Amp (x1) = (2x25w) 50w Max. are located in center console under radio/CD player. This amp powers the front and rear high frequency (Mid/Tweeters 2 1/2") speakers and sends the low frequency signal via a series fader to the rear amps.

Rear Amps (x2) = (2x45w) 90w Max. are located behind the rear seat. One on each side of the car. The amps provide a mono bass signal to the mid/woofers. These two amps power the front and rear low frequency speakers.

Question: How best to install the speakers with a new head unit and keep the factory amps.

Can I simply install the EX3550 by wiring them directly to the factory speaker wires since the factory amplifiers are already crossed over ?

Should I install the speakers using the factory speaker wires with the EX3550 crossovers on the tweeters and using the factory speaker wires on the 5.25 woofers ?

Should I install the speakers using the factory speaker wires with the EX3550 crossovers on the tweeters and purchase 4 new crossovers for the 5.25 woofers ?

Any other ideas ?

Thanks...Chris

MTXMAN

personally if i had a ford with an amplified sound system i'd rip everything out and start from scratch cause from my experience that's a whole lot easier than trying to use the factory amps or speakers...

sntnsupermen131

I agree
-Cody

Systems

So let me see if I get this right, ripping out an entire stereo system is a whole lot easier than plugging in four pairs of speakers ?

Come on, you've got to be kidding me, it will take a couple of hours to install the speakers and probably a whole weekend to gut and replace the amps.

Now if by a whole lot easier you mean, using your noggin to figure out how to do it, then sure I can think R&R in about half a second. Now that was easy.

Jstas

Uh, no. Problem is your stock speakers in your fancy pants stereo are not of a normal impedance. Aftermarket speakers can and most likely will damage your stereo electronics. Also, since the stock stuff is designed to work with only Mach 460 stuff and nothing else, whatever you do will end up sounding like total **** on a stick.

You don't have to "gut" all of your electronics. You can leave them right where they are. Just wire in new stuff around it, completing your own circuits instead of using the stock ones.

In addition, there are NO adapter harnesses for aftermarket speakers and equipment that will fit or adapt to a Mach 460 sound system. You can get entire harnesses that basically rewire your entire system anyway but you can bank on spending an extra 200-300 dollars on that. It would be cheaper to buy your own rolls of speaker wires and power wires and do it yourself. Probably alot less time and aggravation also.

Now, if you do not like the sound of the Mach 460 system and you think speakers are going to fix it, you are dead wrong.Also, there is no way to integrate a head unit into the amplifiers of the stock system. You would have to use factory head unit because the factory head unit is what does all of the signal processing. The high and low outputs of an aftermarket system are not geared to work with the way the factory units work. On top of that, there are connections needed that the aftermarket head unit just doesn't have. The rear amplifier also needs a signal from the front amplifier and the rear outputs of the aftermarket head unit will not work in any way shape or form.

So if you want to replace the head unit, you pretty much have to rewire things. There is no easy way around it.

Systems

Jstas,

Sounds like your suggesting that the reason the Mach 460 sounds like grap is because of the way the amplifiers internally cross over the signal from the head unit and not just inferior speakers.

I guess the best thing to do is to just hook up the EX3550 speakers directly to the new head unit (25w x 4) and by pass all the factory amps for now.

As far as amps go I've already ordered a dual amplifier installation kit, but I can't decide between a pair of Rockford Fosgate 351S or 451s.

According to this site's Q&A the 451S (115w x 2) is the right size using the formula 85w rms / .75 rounded up, but other sites suggest going with the 351s (90w x 2) to be closer to the speakers actual 85w RMS.

Any thoughts...

Jstas

Please don't put words in my mouth.

I never said that the Mach 460 sounded like crap. I said that if you are going to use aftermarket speakers in your Mach460 stereo, it is going to end up sounding like crap because the speakers in the Mach 460 systems are designed to only work with those Mach 460 systems.

Personally, I think the Mach 460 systems are one of the better sounding stock stereos. They don't have all the oomph they should but I could point out many many more stock stereos that sound like crap.

The stock amplifier issue will be what makes it difficult to use your aftermarket head unit and speakers with the stock amps. On top of that, the stock amplifiers are not as powerful as you think. They may have high peak ratings but are really only pushing 8-15 watts per channel with a peak of something like 50-60 watts. Pretty sad actually.

sntnsupermen131

my choice would be the 451S, its always better for your amp to not put out as much as it can all the time rather than going 100% 24/7
itll stay cooler(which is a problem with Rockford), sound better, play louder, and last longer
-Cody

Systems

Jstas,

Actually I agree with you on the sound of the Mach 460 being pretty good for a stock system and I've leased three Mustang coupes with the Mach 460 in them and never considered upgrading the system, just got a new one with the new lease. But if I was going to buy a new one I don't think I'd pick this option. Eventually I purchased this used 96 Cobra convertible and the Mach 460, which is not an option, is just tired and worn out. I could probably just get the factory speakers replaced, but that would probably cost me more than a whole new system and still wouldn't give me MP3/WMA and XM radio.

Anyway, UPS showed up today with a box of stuff. I removed the Mach 460 Head and CD Player and installed the new Panasonic MXE CQ-HX1083 CD/MP3/WMA player using a Schosche OEM Amplifier Integration adapter. After tweaking the adapter a bit the system sounds just as it did before, but at least now I can listen to MP3's and XM radio.

I think I'm going to wire the EX3550's directly up to the Panasonic Head (25wx4) and it should sound a lot better and perhaps as you have suggested just as loud.

Thanks...Chris

PoweredByDodge

chris if you're gonna get an amp - why not just get a 4 channel instead of two 2 channels for god sake -- save yourself the hassle of having two bulky amps and more wiring and blah blah blah - and go easy and just get one nice 4 channel.

it'll be cheaper too...

hunt around and you'll find a new - or like new - 75 x 4 or so amp for about 200 bucks... and a good one at that.

go retail and it'll bite u in the pocket book for about 350 - 450

60 x 4 is actually plenty, but if you like it loud -- which i do -- 75 is good for a 4 channel setup.

dont waste your time trying to do the math of it... just take the word of people who've done it a lot -- 75 x 4 is plenty for a non-subwoofered system.

and you'll never want to play those coaxials at more than that anyway they'll start to sound funky... not bad or anything but just reaching the limits of their function -- kinda like yo'ure car trying to go 150 miles an hour -- you're steering starts to get really **** and stuff rattles -- you get the idea.

PoweredByDodge

here this amp does 55 x 4 at 4 ohms -- 55 isn't 75 but i think it'll do fine on a bunch of 6x8's...

and -- it'll prolly do more than that anyway -- why? -- because its a blue thunder (drool).

http://www.mitekfactoryoutlet.com/products/product.cfm?PN=PRO504R

classic -- and built "ford tough" lol...

$125 bucks -- direct from the manufacturer.

MTXMAN

PBD i can definately tell that you like bluethunder ;D i agree with you though it was some sweet gear... saw a car the other day with 2 12" bluethunder's in a bandpass box... don't know what series they were though they just said bluethunder...

PoweredByDodge

blue thunder legends weren't anything special but blue thunder extreme subs (equivelant of 8000 series as far as "level"of sub) were like mini DDaudio equipment... bangin, strong, inefficient as all hell, deep and mellow, and even with cool lookin high power style baskets.

if i had my way - given a medium budget (not enough to get reallllly nice gear) - i'd have done my whole truck with blue thunder pro series [silver] amps. as it is i've just got the two blue thunder standard series amps on highs.